by Adi Katz     Mariv, Signon   HIN - 11.10.00

Translated by Dr. Dalia Gurari-Rotman, volunteer, in November 2000, for the Israel Self-help Centre of ESRA Support group for parents with Mild Learning Difficulties.

The true gift of dyslexia is skill. For Einstein it was in physics, for da Vinci in art. Most dyslectics are exceptionally gifted, have above-average curiosity and well-developed imaginations, according to therapist Ron Davis, a dyslectic who has developed a unique system of therapy. Adi Katz spoke to dyslectics whose lives have been totally changed by his method.

What do the following have in common: Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Walt Disney, Hans Christian Andersen, Quentin Tarantino, Jay Leno, Cher and Tom Cruise? Each of them is famous for outstanding achievements in his particular field, but the additional common denominator is dyslexia. Ron Davis, author of “The Gift of Dyslexia” (published privately, Judith Schwartz), which was recently published in Hebrew, claims that these personalities attained their achievements because of, rather than in spite of, their handicap.

Davis, who himself suffers from dyslexia, says that dyslectics are able to make use of the brain’s ability to change and create perceptions, they are very aware of their environment, have above average imaginations, think visually rather than verbally, are intuitive and perceive in a multi-dimensional fashion. These abilities, if not repressed by parents and the education process, can lead to higher-than-average intelligence and to exceptionally creative talents, The true gift of dyslexia, according to Davis, is that of skill – for Einstein it was in the field of physics, for da Vinci in Art.

In order to understand and evaluate the positive side of dyslexia, Davis says one must treat the negative angles = defects in reading, writing, spelling arithmetic etc, These difficulties are most frustrating for those suffering from them, and we are speaking of one out of ten children, and often result in their labeled as stupid or lazy, causing them to “lose their way” both socially and academically. Most of them do not achieve their vocational potential and in extreme cases they may deteriorate to a life of crime.

As a result experience, Davis developed a system of treatment for dyslexia which has proved effective inmost of the patients. There are improvements in reading, writing and mathematical ability, in co-ordination and in control over lack of concentration, all of which lead to an increase in self-confidence. In his childhood, Ron Davis was labeled as retarded in spite of an I.Q. of 160 and in spite of his being a most creative and imaginative person. He did not function successfully in school and had a constant feeling that there was something wrong in his brain. Despite all these difficulties Davis became an engineer, a  businessman and a sculptor.

In his late thirties, Davis became aware that his dyslexia became worse when he was sculpting, He locked himself into a hotel room and practiced his dyslexia worse and then improving it; to his surprise after three days when he looked at his hotel pass he found that he could read the letters.

He then went to the public library, borrowed “treasure Island” and managed to read it in the space of several hours.

Davis shared his experience with friends and to his surprise found out that all his artistic friends were also dyslectic. By means of this approach of trial and error in the following months he developed a method of treatment for overcoming dyslexia and after a year opened his first reading clinic. In 1982 Davis founded the Centre for Correction of Dyslexia of the Reading Research Council in California and in 1985 he established the “Davis International Dyslexia Organization” which trains therapists and educators in his system all over the world. “The Gift of Dyslexia” has already been translated into ten languages.

Schwartz became familiar with the method after she herself and her son Yaron, both dyslectic, were successfully treated by the method in London. “According to Davis’ theory” she says, dyslectics think in pictures rather than in words or sentences. In China and Japan there are no dyslectics, because their letters are made up of pictures and not of symbols as is the case in the Hebrew, Arabic and Latin alphabets. Because dyslectics think mainly in pictures, they tend to develop their imagination and to using a verbal process. This unique from of thinking results in their developing many skills and talents.

Schwartz was born in London, to a well-established Jewish family. “From an early age I felt that there was something different about me, but couldn’t explain what it was, I differed in my behavior and in my understanding of schoolwork, I had attention and concentration problems and suffered from hyperactivity, Today I know that these problems resulted from my learning disabilities.”

How did the people around you relate to this?

My  parents took care of things as far as possible, but only in relation to the attention and concentration difficulties. They were not aware of the dyslexia. I was the class clown. I had to prove to everyone that I existed, so if I couldn’t do it through my studies I had to find an alternative way.

And I succeeded! Whenever a problem arose in class the accusing finger was pointed at me. This was a negative kind of success, but success nonetheless. I got into a situation that I didn’t know how to get out of.

Did you learn to read?

I managed to read material I really wanted to read, but not all the rest. In the end I was expelled from school. I transferred to a regular (non-private) school and my strongest memory of that school is the feeling I had o not belonging. I didn’t belong in my class because I was always going for treatment, to try to help me overcome my behavior problems. These problems persisted into junior high school and high school and I was always hearing sentences such as “could try harder”, “doesn’t do her homework”, “doesn’t pay attention in class”, “lazy”. I was then sent to an extremely expensive private school, which had very few pupils in a class, but I didn’t succeed in realizing my potential there either and so I quit the school system altogether. I tried to complete my matriculation in evening classes, but this failed too. I felt if I was looking for something but didn’t know what”.

Schwartz decided to try her luck in Israel and went to kibbutz Be’erot Yitzchak in order to learn Hebrew, but her learning difficulties soon brought her to the point where she was looking for excuses not to have to go to ulpan classes. Several months later she returned to England and enrolled in to train as a cosmetician. Before her final examinations. She learnt the answers by heart and passed!

A few years later Schwartz returned to Israel, married and began to do volunteer work. When her only son Yaron was born, Schwartz came up against all the problems from which she had tried to escape. “While he was still a baby everyone said he was restless, that he was in a constant state of movement. I refused to see it. He was a sweet and charming child and I didn’t know what they were talking about. His kindergarten teacher said that he was disturbing the group during story time, but I still didn’t thing there was a problem. His language and comprehension were very developed and it later became clear that after hearing the story for the first time he knew it by heart, and he was bored. He also found it difficult to make friends with the other children. When Yaron started school, the problems became more serious. He was incapable of sitting quietly. I took him for a series of tests and no one found anything wrong. Only when he got to second grade was he diagnosed as dyslectic. Then I realized that this was my problem too.

How did you feel?

I felt a great sense of relief. At long last I understood what I had been suffering from all the years. Even today I find it difficult to free myself from the sense of failure I had all my life.

Yaron was also diagnosed as hyperactive and was treated with Ritalin, but the treatment was not successful. Schwarcz joined a support group run by “Ezra” for parents of children with learning difficulties and in time became its chairman. Today the group has about 350 member families. When her son was in fifth grade, Schwartz happened to see a copy of Ron Davis’s book “The Gift of Dyslexia” in the office of the school advisor. The book changed her life. “For the first time I found a positive approach to the problem. Although dyslexia is a problem, Davis sees it also as a great benefit. The book has a lot of optimism and it truly opened my eyes”.

The real proof as to the efficiency of the Davis method came when Schwartz and her son underwent treatment at the Davis clinic in London/ “We did an intensive program during five days and returned to Israel to continue working here on our own. Yaron’s reading improved dramatically; although to this day there are ups and downs he reads and enjoys reading. Six months after leaving London he stooped taking Ritalin and has never resumed. His attention and concentration problems disappeared”.

What happened to you yourself after the treatment?

Suddenly I could read, even trivial things which used to bother me so much like labels on the food items in the supermarket. It was a wonderful feeling, I started reading books to make up for all the years I hadn’t read- and I enjoyed it. When I understood what had happened to mi son and to myself I felt that this was the direction I should take, that I must make this contribution so that everyone could have the opportunity of realizing his potential.

For eighteen months Schwartz studied the Davis method in Switzerland, England and the USA, and for tow years now she has been treating people and acting as the only Israeli representative of the Davis organization in Israel. “The method does not only teach reading and writing”, she says “but also organization skills and responsibility: it promotes a sense of tome, order and continuity, and the ability to achieve concentration, These are essential tools for everyday life and not just for academic studies, because dyslexia has many facets. Its not only a matter of switching letters, it’s also to do with lack of social skills, inability to learn the rules of a game, losing a sense of time”.

On what is the Davis treatment based?

The method is based on thinking visually rather than verbally. It includes three basic steps: learning to attain “control” over the alphabet and language signs by  means of forming them in plasticine, learning to “control” abstract wards which have no picture behind them for the dyslectic, and building skills for order and comprehension during reading. The method teaches control of “trigger wards”, which are confusing for dyslectics, by means of a dictionary and forming the words in plasticine. The pupil learns the significance of the words, learns to recognize their sound and their written form.

What is the idea of forming the words in plasticine?

When the child forms the letters himself they become a part of himself. They become tangible and it becomes easier for him to imaging them. He starts to see the letters the way they are his handwriting improves. I start seeing a difference in the child after three days, even in his way of sitting, in his facial expressions.

The treatment takes place in an intensive workshop of 30 hours and afterwards the parents continue with about 10 minutes worked a day. Parents can do the treatment themselves based on Davis’ book and with Schwartz’s help.

At what age is it best to start treatment?

Any age. My patients are children from age eight onwards, and adults, It is most important that the child be motivated and that his parents are prepared to take on the responsibility for the treatment.

Otherwise it’s impossible to change anything.

Rinat and Michael Liksenberg from Bet-El have six children with learning difficulties, Rinat is herself dyslectic, a fact of which she only became aware as an adult, when she read Davis’ book. “I read the book two years ago”, she says, “and my first reaction was that I’d found someone in the world who understood me and that I wasn’t the only person in the world who had my way of thinking”. American-born Liksberg graduated successfully from high school in spite of her slow reading, but despite her success she always felt that she was different, When her children were born, it became apparent that all six had inherited her difficulty, “They all started walking and talking late, and at school they didn’t read with the ease of the other children, Some of them only mastered reading in 4^th - 5^th  grade.

What was your attitude to this?

I never thought I had a problem because I did manage to study, but when I saw the problem in one child after another, I began to wonder, My children are very clever and aware of their learning difficulties and this resulted, in addition, in a lack of self-confidence, If I had known then what I know now, I could have saved a lot of trouble.

When her fifth son started compulsory kindergarten, Liksberg decided to check his preparedness for first grade well ahead of time. “I saw that he too was not taking in the letters and I didn’t want him to have the same difficulties that all the other children had. I started looking for methods of treating the problem because I saw he was getting frustrated and then I came across an advertisement for a lecture on dyslexia by Judith Schwarcz. I phoned her and she directed me to previously about learning difficulties and it “spoke” to me. I bought the book and with Judith’s help worked out a system for treating my son. I worked with him myself – I wanted to manage to do it before he started first grade, Today he’s in 2^nd grade and no one knows that there is anything different about him. He has no problem with reading – he’s the first child in our family who reads so freely. My older children study in small groups and they are very frustrated.

Can’t they also be helped?

Unfortunately we don’t have the time and money to give each child the full course and I don’t think they themselves have the desire to change the situation. People do not always want to deal with their problems”.

Liksberg is now trying to find out if her youngest son’ aged 3.5, is also dyslectic. 

Will you work with him using the Davis method?

Definitely. I intend to start teaching him the alphabet this year, not to wait. I think that by the time he is 5 years old he’ll be reading freely”.

Keren, 10.5 years old, didn’t start reading till 5^th grade. “At school they said she was lazy and didn’t want to learn” says her mother, Amy Gelbart, “Keren began to withdraw into herself, her learning difficulties brought social problems in their wake and we just didn’t know what to do”. Keren was diagnosed as dyslectic but her reading problem was not solved by any of the treatment methods tried. About a year ago Amy Gelbart heard about the Davis method and met Judith Schwartz. “The first thing that impressed us was Judith’s faith in Keren. She was the first person to form a real ling with her and give her confidence in her own ability; This relationship caused Keren to open up for the first time and to start working. Part of the problem of dyslectic children is that in school the teachers just don’t have enough time for them. If a child is not keeping up with the general pace of the class, he gets pushed aside and no one is ready to invest energy in helping him. Judith also comes from a different background, from the point of view of therapy. Forming the alphabet letters in plasticine is something new and different and the tools Keren learnt to help with her concentration have helped a great deal”.

A large part of the treatment falls on the parents’ shoulders – how did you cope with it?

We all understood that we had to take responsibility and that the problem would not be solved if we didn’t. My husband and I changed our daily routine in order to make time to work with Keren every day; there was no other option.

Keren participated in Judith Schwartz’s intensive workshop during Pessach and her reading improved dramatically. “The improvement continued during the following months, we work with her every day on reading and twice a week on forming letters in plasticine, and we can see progress, at the end of the summer, for the first time in her life, she read a book of 115 pages and she was ecstatic. We know now that Keren is capable of progressing and we mustn’t let her give up – its hard work but we can see results!”